January 2012
2 posts
why yes, there is a two-plus year gap between the last post and the previous one. and there is a two-year-old toddler going crazy on her art supplies in my dining room right now. coincidence?
plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose →
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose has always meant that the constant novelty and flux of modern life is all superficial show, that the underlying essences endure unchanged. But now, suddenly, that saying has acquired an alternative and nearly opposite definition: the more certain things change for real (technology, the global political economy), the more other things (style, culture)...
August 2009
2 posts
“If we maintain the status quo, we will continue to see 14,000 Americans lose...”
– barack obama, why we need health care reform, in the new york times
right-wing craziness in history →
Liberal power of all sorts induces an organic and crazy-making panic in a considerable number of Americans, while people with no particular susceptibility to existential terror — powerful elites — find reason to stoke and exploit that fear. And even the most ideologically fair-minded national media will always be agents of cosmopolitanism: something provincials fear as an outside elite...
May 2009
2 posts
“Wormholes are to black holes as elevators are to deep wells filled with snakes...”
– 10 rules for time travelers. #5: Black holes are not time machines. + discover magazine +
some damn fine advertising: honda insight/let it... →
April 2009
3 posts
jason kottke made me cry today
okay, not him so much as his link to this devastating, beautiful photo essay.
the street of the future is a livable street →
+ good +
“My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”
– President Obama to the CEOs of the most powerful financial institutions in the world, as quoted on politico.
March 2009
17 posts
problem vegetables at your doorstep (every week) →
One friend confessed “utter panic” at the sight of tomatillos. When I asked another what he did with his mustard greens, he responded, straight-faced, “I take them home, put them in my refrigerator, and wait until they rot.” Cabbage, kohlrabi, collards, bok choy—everyone, it seems, has their problem vegetables. And, like me, many feel guilty about it. + slate +
a guide to big numbers →
To help Obama put the full scale of his rescue plan into perspective, one trillion seconds would take you back 31,709 years to the time of the hunter-gatherers. + guardian.co.uk +
i am addicted to wall blank →
every day a new piece of inexpensive, limited edition artwork pops up in my google reader. i can’t help it — i want, want, want. expecting another trip to ikea for cheap frames in very near future…
coming soon to 1600 pennsylvania ave: a vegetable... →
+ obama foodorama via eating liberally +
why the only joke i tell is a knock-knock joke →
A simple melody with a simple rhythm and repetition can be a tremendous mnemonic device… Really great jokes, on the other hand, punch the lights out of do re mi. They work not by conforming to pattern recognition routines but by subverting them. + new york times +
growing sentences with david foster wallace →
9. Give it that Wallace shine. Replace common words with their oddly specific, scientific-y counterparts. (Ex: ‘curved fingers’ into ‘falcate digits’). If you can turn a noun into a brand name, do it. (Ex: ‘shoes’ into ‘Hush Puppies,’ ‘camera’ into ‘Bolex’). + james tanner, reprinted on kottke.org +
“Without books, we might melt into the airwaves, and be just another set of...”
– john updike, on printed books, in an essay in due considerations.
our banking woes, explained
the collapse of the banking system, as explained by alex blumberg & adam davidson on this american life. if you want even more, check out this interview on fresh air with simon johnson, a former IMF official.
“The only bracing symbol of American strength right now is the image of Michelle...”
– maureen dowd, in the new york times
transforming our food system ideals from "organic"... →
Real sustainability, [Fred Kirschenmann, former director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture] argues, is defined not by a food system’s capacity to ensure happy workers or organic lima beans, but by whether the food system can sustain itself—that is, keep going, indefinitely, in a world of finite resources. A truly sustainable food system is inherently resilient—more capable of...
but can you hear this? →
a list of test tones to determine where your high frequency hearing cuts off. warning: you may find the results a little depressing. (the last one i can hear is 14 kHz)
“Bliss—a-second-by-second joy and gratitude at the gift of being alive,...”
– david foster wallace, as quoted in this great article in the new yorker.
a fugue state →
After her rescue [after three weeks], while she was recovering from hypothermia and dehydration at Richmond University Medical Center in Staten Island, she was told that she was suffering from dissociative fugue, a rare form of amnesia that causes people to forget their identity, suddenly and without warning, and can last from a few hours to years. + nytimes +
the human cost of tomatoes →
[W]hen asked if it is reasonable to assume that an American who has eaten a fresh tomato from a grocery store or food-service company during the winter has eaten fruit picked by the hand of a slave, [ chief assistant U.S. attorney] Molloy said, “It is not an assumption. It is a fact.”
advice: buy season, local, and small-scale fruit. whole foods is the only grocery chain that has signed on to...
February 2009
3 posts
i love you forever and always →
+ via kottke +
nuke the fridge? not for me. →
As drastic as the move might seem, a small segment of the green movement has come to regard the refrigerator as an unacceptable drain on energy, and is choosing to live without it. In spite of its ubiquity — 99.5 percent of American homes have one — these advocates say the refrigerator is unnecessary, as long as one is careful about shopping choices and food storage. + new york times +
the USDA's first six months - an action item list
the ethicurean proposes 10 specific actions the USDA could take in the first 6 months of the new administration in order to make some real change in our food system.
Make the USDA once again the “people’s department” with staff that answer to citizens before corporations.
Start supporting diversified, decentralized food systems right now, and stop risking American lives by encouraging all our...
January 2009
7 posts
the spanish tortilla
i vowed that this year would be the year i learned how to really cook eggs — from the plain to the fancy. i’ve never been particularly good, bad, or adventurous with eggs in the past & have been hampered by my stainless steel pan, which i otherwise love. but my cooking class combined with the audio book of julie & julia made me think that eggs at least are an area that is...
because ice fishing wasn't crazy enough... →
some people surf lake superior…in the wintertime
By noon, a foot of snow was on the road, flakes blowing sideways in winds gusting up to 45 miles an hour. But a dozen surfers were suited up and in the water, paddling out with their heads down, over waves and into a whiteout, disappearing into an abyss.
“[Breast] pumps can be handy; they’re also a handy way to avoid privately...”
– jill lepore, writing about breast-feeding and the surrounding industry/culture, in “baby food” + the new yorker +
8 weeks of packed lunches →
still-viable new year’s resolutions plus a faltering economy make this list of (mostly vegetarian) lunch ideas particularly timely & convenient. i’m hard-pressed to buy my weekday lunch for under $7 these days (and that’s leaving aside the separate issue of the morning iced latte), so i think i may give a few of these delicious-sounding meals a try.
people who deserve it. where it = a punch in the... →
+ via kottke.org +
December 2008
11 posts
“A gasoline tax would do more for American prosperity and strength than any other...”
– Michael Mandelbaum, quoted in the New York Times
year in review: my top ten for 2008 (in no...
Mad Men season two Vampire Weekend President-Elect Barack Obama Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig!!! Milk Tomales Bay oysters Neal Stephenson, Anathem The Mountain Goats at the Fillmore home-grown tomatoes Once
plus, i forgot a very worthy #11:
Dr. Horrible
“An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own joke.”
– f. scott fitzgerald
fuck you, penguin: super-cute plus super-snark =... →
+ via vsl +
Watchthis is where we live + via the new yorker +
in defense of teasing →
The reason teasing is viewed as inherently damaging is that it is too often confused with bullying. But bullying is something different; it’s aggression, pure and simple. Bullies steal, punch, kick, harass and humiliate. Sexual harassers grope, leer and make crude, often threatening passes. They’re pretty ineffectual flirts. By contrast, teasing is a mode of play, no doubt with a sharp edge, in...
the ultimate film personality test
based on an interesting idea from the triumph of bullshit & expanded on by kottke, namely, that your favorite movies by particular directors may be interesting & discussion-worthy in a way that your favorite-favorites are not.
first, the options:
joel coen - no country for old men, the big lebowski, fargo, the hudsucker proxy, miller’s crossing, raising arizona, etc. wes anderson...
November 2008
6 posts
the criterion collection online cinematheque →
love good films? this is the site for you. criterion has redesigned their site & now offers a limited number of films for online viewing — $5 per film for a week. a little pricey for a rental, but the best part is that your $5 will go towards the dvd price if you decide to buy it to keep. this is the rental/buy model i’ve been waiting for all along… the only question is...
the new deal 2.0 - obama's youtube address with... →
I have already directed my economic team to come up with an Economic Recovery Plan that will mean 2.5 million more jobs by January of 2011 – a plan big enough to meet the challenges we face that I intend to sign soon after taking office. We’ll be working out the details in the weeks ahead, but it will be a two-year, nationwide effort to jumpstart job creation in America and lay the foundation for...